September 2006

September 28, 2006

ending with a gig on the Town Square Stage in sub-zero temperatures that deep-froze the tush, and looked a bit like this:

only much, muchcolder, avec 3 sugar-frenzied, unsupervised offspring devouring the contents of their showbags backstage and running feverishly in ever-decreasing circles until they stopped, and vomited.

And although the word 'gig' does not have a 'Shhh!' in it, I think you'll find he word 'tush', does. See also: showbags,sugar, and shpeweverywhere, not to mention the names we called them when we discovered what they'd been up to.

And of course, we forgot our cameras, so all Show photos are courtesy of the ever-handy Tim Chmielewski (which may or may not be a 'Shhh!' sound. Who can say?)

Meanwhile, at home in Craft Land, after getting into Big Trouble from Mym for using her dolls as pincushions, (a reasonable objection, I decided, upon reflection), I finally got my act together and made a pincushion of my very own:

And last, but not least, this came in the mail yesterday, after getting lost for a week, and causing the elderly Prior Owner no end of grief.

In my opinion, (and I've been spinning since I was a child), New Zealand is hard to beat for hand-built, hardwood, vintage spinning wheels. This is a pipy wheel, made of rimu wood, probably crafted sometime in the 1970s, signed and stamped by "philip poore", and I CANNOT BELIEVE NOBODY BID AGAINST ME FOR IT ON EBAY. Idiots left, right and centre bidding like demons for cheap, pine, ashwood spinning wheels, and this little baby sitting all by herself in a corner, not a bid to her name. I almost had a heart attack.

Took me all night to put it together, and I haven't quite got the tension right, she's still overspinning, but I did manage to spin some cashmere, which, handily, provides me with the requisite (and, thankfully, last) 'Shhh!' sound.

So stay tuned for a fibrefest. This is hopefully the first stage of a little project I am putting together for Shhh! at Craft Victoria

September 22, 2006

With a twinkle in her eye and a song in her heart, Irene has been known to straddle a barstool and carouse melodiously with even the most hardened elements of Melbourne Society. This behaviour invariably inspires Smoky Eye Syndrome and Shouts All Round.

It’s that Irish blood of hers. Gets ‘em every time.

Toodles & Barney

Toodles is a Paris End Girl.

A little flashy, but never too much.

Barney’s ordinary name belies his pedigree, which is exceptional, and expensive.

But Toodles believes him to be worth every cent. She plans to keep him forever.

September 20, 2006

Tim Chmielewski has very kindly allowed me to post some of his images from Sarah Carroll's CD launch:

The Girl in Question, looking very Elvisy:

The Handy Harmonica-Playing Husband (aka Chris Wilson):

Some of the Damp Panties (Suzannah Espie, Alison Ferrier and Lil' Fi)

and the rest of the Damp Panties (Sweet Felicia, Barb Waters, Kerri Simpson, (and some sheila who really is getting too old to be carrying on like this)

There's more, much more, The Tides of Welcome Choir, Alex Burns, Andy Baylor, Barry Stockley, Chris Tabone, Marcel Borrack, Dan Warner, but for all that you'll have to go over to Tim's site and check it out.

And when I see him next, I promise to find out how to pronounce Chmielewski

September 08, 2006

For 2 days the sun came out, the air turned warm, the birds sang, and we all peeped outside, ripped off our woollies and ran down the street in our T shirts.

"Summer's coming! Summer's coming!" people cried, and began swigging cold beers in the outdoor cafes.

Whereupon the skies promptly turned black and bucketed iced water all over them. And now it's back to Even Colder Weather Than Before. And every man and his dog has a terrible cold from being caught in the rain without a coat.

Melbourne pulls this stunt every Spring, without fail. I'm not sure why, but I suspect it's because She has a black sense of humour, to match Her dress code.

So we're all back indoors in our slippers, cooking hot puddings, and feeling very sooky indeed.

And I do believe I've just set up a somewhat laboured segue into an old family favourite sooky pudding recipe.

Now fancy that.

Golden Syrup Dumplings

serves 4

Dumplings

1 tb butter

1 cup self raising flour

1 beaten egg

2 - 3 tb milk

Syrup

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tb butter

2/3 cups (approx) golden syrup

juice of 1 lemon

Rub butter into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs

Add beaten egg and sufficient milk to mix into a soft dough. Place dough in greased casserole or deep pie dish in spoonfuls

Place syrup ingredients in saucepan, stir over heat until sugar has dissolved. Bring to boil.

Pour syrup over dumplings.

Bake at 180 celsius (350 farenheit) for 20-30 minutes, or until dumplings are swollen and golden on top. You'll know by the smell. It will send you crazy. I usually cover mine until cooked, and then take the lid off for the last 5 -10 minutes to brown them. Stops too much of the sauce from evaporating.

Serve with cream or ice cream, or bugger it, both.

Not for the faint-hearted, but guaranteed to warm your soul on a miserably cold night. A big hit with the kids and the elderly.

ps. I've deleted my singin' it up for Suse post. Laid off Dad put the wind up me about posting kids' images on the Net, and he's right, but I couldn't resist that one time. Now you all know what we look like, and we'll leave it at that.